Iron House finishes its rise from the ashes

In a way, the grand reopening of the Iron House on Corporation Road last Saturday brought some closure to what has been a tumultuous 19 months.

John Watters

John Watters Photo

THE HEAT GOES ON – Two generations of Webb’s, Lucinda and her daughter Weldy, welcome all of their customers to visit the reopened Iron House’s store, rebuilt after the original was destroyed in a January 2010 fire.

In a way, the grand reopening of the Iron House on Corporation Road last Saturday brought some closure to what has been a tumultuous 19 months.

The Sep. 24 gala event marked the business’ return in a brand new building built on the original footprint of the one destroyed by fire on the frigid morning of Jan. 27, 2010. which has been around Hyannis since 1972, got back into.

“The re-opening was kind of like the fire,” said Lucinda Webb, wife of the founder of the Iron House John Webb. “Our old time customers came to help in the celebration, they brought food and drink, it was heartwarming. It was the same thing they did in the days after the fires. We have great customers.”

The Webb’s children – Weldy and Josh – are now the owners of the wood, coal and pellet stove store.

Wearing a sweatshirt that reads, “It takes more than four alarms to get us down,” Weldy Webb deals with the line of customers coming in the door. She’s juggling answering the constantly-ringing phone as patrons are busily trying to get their stoves and chimneys ready for the upcoming cold months.

“We actually never closed,” she said. “We set up our operations out of one of our outbuildings the day after the fire. Our customers needed us and we were there for them, just as they have always been there for us.”

Webb said it was ironic that a business that sells stoves that run on wood, coal or pellets was actually razed by an electrical malfunction.

“The only thing that was salvaged from the old building is a charred wooden beam that we had to include in our new building as a reminder of our past,” said Webb.